[Accepted]Hocka's Vaurca Application

BYOND Key: Hocka

Character Names: https://i.imgur.com/4n4xemT.png

Species you are applying to play: Vaurca

What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): RGB 51, 0, 0

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes.

Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question

Why do you wish to play this specific race: I would like to play this race because they seem like a great source of enjoyment to play. Vaurca feel especially alien given their biology, culture and history. While reading the wiki page, (as one does when you feel like you want to apply for a whitelisted race) I didn't feel the same as I normally do when trudging through raw law. (Not that I don't appreciate the efforts of people who right lore for their respective games, etcetera. I can just be lazy and extremely picky.). I felt more like I was reading a novella, I wanted to pick up the wiki page and read more whenever I could. To summarise, I'm a fan of the lore surrounding Vaurca, so I'd like to be able to play one.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: There are very many things. Biologically, Vaurca are far different. Ranging from very light augmentation to going as far as to not even being considered Vaurca by some, with entire weapons or tools coming in as augmentations to Vaurca. They are also insectoid - looking nothing akin to a Human, and can be quite taller. They also need Phoron to survive (with Oxygen to go with it, of course.) If a Human inhaled Phoron, or ate K'ois, it would go a lot differently. Society is also wildly different. You are born to serve the hive in one way or another, you aren't born because mother and father wanted a child. This is to name a few differences.

Character Name: Za'Akaix'Vex Zo'ra

Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs

Vex was born as an Unbound Warrior. He went through the normal growing procedure - like other Unbound Vaurca. He had his six months to develop his brain, he had his neural socket, and began his six month training period. It was perfect, as all should be in Virtual Reality. His training entailed general combat, How to fight, as a Warior protecting his people should know. In this reality, he was to become legendary fighter, as his comrades and warriors before him did. A vanguard for the Hive. Bane of the Hive's Enemies.

Vex was struck harshly when he had to make way for actual reality. Not only were Warriors not as revered as in his paradise, not heroes, no legends, there was a plethora of problems that plagued this reality. He came to realise the conditions on Caprice, the struggle the brood had to go through to survive there. Vex needed a motivation to drive him from the despair of these issues, and this motivation came in the form of a want to become the known bulwark of those under his protection, to become like the legendary soldiers he learned off in Virtual Reality. Vex cared not if his end goal was unrealistic, it was his way of coping, as a Vaurca must do in these trying times. He eventally became a Cadet for NanoTrasen's Aurora, when his time came to start this endeavour.

What do you like about this character?

I like the idea Vex wishes to pursue what was only possible in Virtual Reality. Workers are simply respected more than Warriors for the work they do to preserve the Vaurca, so I feel like it would be interesting if Vex was almost fanatical of the warriors he learned about during his first six months in VR, and tried to become them as he starts his path.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I don't think I can give very honest ratings about myself, but I'll settle for 5/10.

Notes:

To clarify what I said regarding what made me play Vaurca, and the comment about the Vaurca lore page. I more meant it as in it particularly drew me in more than most things I read regarding lore in any universe. I thought I should put this here in case it might have been misunderstood as me saying the Vaurca lore page is just "better" than other pages.

Hello!

Deputy for vaurca here. I have a couple of questions. Keep in mind, I might include some trick questions!

Vex seems like a thought-out character. Though not explicitly stated, they're from Zoleth'akeh's brood, which I inferred from references to Caprice. To explain a more personal gripe I have with Vex, let me start by explaining the differences between Ka and Za. Warriors are vaurcae either in direct operation of, or associated with the operation of weapons. So on the flipside, workers are vaurcae NOT either in direct operation of or associated with the operation of weapons. Weapons is a broad term in this sense; information is as much a weapon as a gun is, and information can refer to pretty much anything, even if it's incredibly specific. Anyway, now that this is clarified, your character becomes a little vague. They're simply an unbound warrior that fights, similar to a soldier. While this isn't necessarily an issue, as soldiers would exist, I'd like to encourage a bit more creativity - though it honestly isn't needed for you to pass this application.

Another, perhaps more applicable issue I have with the backstory is the apparent time leap between realising reality isn't like virtual reality and becoming a cadet. Once away from Caprice, surely Vex would've been introduced to first hand but not necessarily first time experiences with other species and cultures.

What are Vex's opinions on the other species? Born from the Herald of Scars' brood, does Vex share their Queen's tendency for warmongering, even if only internally? Essentially, I'd like to see some finer details on the character's perspective of the world.

How augmented is Vex? Out of all hives, Zo'ra have the best bio-mechanical implants.

Why did you pick to have Vex a cadet, and not an officer?

How does Vex spend their free time?

Aside from the points raised in these questions, I don't really have anything else to criticise about this application. You have shown good understanding of the species and developed a believable character from your knowledge. My interactions with your characters lead me to believe that you are capable of roleplaying a vaurca. As a side, that 5/10 is very harsh on yourself.

If you have any questions or want to talk about anything, you can contact me on discord. Thanks for applying!

Vex would be in a struggle between understanding the position that Tau Ceti is in, with more and more Vaurcae arriving in the system (creating a refugee issue due to space limitations, logistics etc.) and being resentful that Vaurcae should live on a terrain so inhospitable to them He would likely keep such thoughts to himself, unless prodded. Being under the brood of Zoleth'akeh, he would understand the Lesser Queen's ideology of war and conflict when it's neccessary and peace when it is not, and would try to apply this to his everyday goings-on rather than making himself known as someone to actively look for conflict to create.

While Vex is from the Zo'ra hive, he would have a small amount of implants as he is Unbound. The Unbound are intentionally much less augmented than the Bound as they are expected to be more versatile, and heavily augmenting a Vaurca hinders this. He would likely be equipped with an augment to help him speak Tau Ceti a little better, as he would be communicating with a lot of beings that are not of his species.

I picked Vex to be a Cadet because it'd be near the start of his career. Vaurca are held to the same standard as other races (excluding the fact that they cannot assume roles higher than that of civillian-grade). I think this means that NanoTrasen would have Vex to start a cadet course in order to be qualified as a full-on Security Officer aboard the Aurora and by NanoTrasen's own standards.

Vex would be in VR for a good portion of his free time. But when he isn't, he would be like most other Unbound Vaurcae. He'd enjoy socialising with others of his caste. In addition, assuming he didn't have access to VR, he would take the time to try and study the battles of old he would glorify so much.

A solid application, and a good fleshing out of a relatively fresh from VR Vaurca. Any previous questions I would have posed was already asked so...Application Accepted!